This could lead to radical leaps in AI with machines programmed to think in the same way we do.

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Researchers say MRI scans can measure human intelligence - and define what it is. This could lead to radical leaps in AI with machines programmed to think in the same way we do.

ARE IQ TESTS ACCURATE?

After conducting the largest ever study of intelligence, researchers have found that far from indicating how clever you are, IQ testing is actually rather 'meaningless'.

In a bid to investigate the value of IQ, scientists asked more than 100,000 participants to complete 12 tests that required planning, reasoning, memory and attention.

They also filled in a survey on their background.

Scientists from Canada's Western University in Ontario discovered that far from being down to one single factor, what is commonly regarded as intelligence is influenced by three different elements - short-term memory, reasoning, and verbal ability.

But being good at one of these factors does not mean you are going to be equally gifted at the other two.

'Human intelligence is a widely and hotly debated topic and only recently have advanced brain imaging techniques, such as those used in our current study, given us the opportunity to gain sufficient insights to resolve this and inform developments in artificial intelligence, as well as help establish the basis for understanding and diagnosis of debilitating human mental disorders such as schizophrenia and depression,' said Professor Jianfeng Feng of the University of Warwick, who led the research.

Together with a team in China he has been working to quantify the brain's dynamic functions, and identify how different parts of the brain interact with each other at different times – to discover how intellect works.

Professor Jianfeng found the more variable a brain is, and the more its different parts frequently connect with each other, the higher a person's IQ and creativity are.

The team believe the work could lead to a breakthrough in AI systems.

Currently, AI systems do not process the variability and adaptability that is vital, as evidenced by Professor Jianfeng's research, to the human brain for growth and learning.

Using resting-state MRI analysis on thousands of people's brains around the world, the research found that the areas of the brain which are associated with learning and development show high levels of variability, meaning that they change their neural connections with other parts of the brain more frequently, over a matter of minutes or seconds.

On the other hand, regions of the brain which aren't associated with intelligence - the visual, auditory, and sensory-motor areas - show small variability and adaptability.

A recent study, published in the journal Neuron, suggests that intelligence is too complex to be represented by a single number.

Study leader Dr Adrian Owen, a British neuroscientists based at Western University in Canada, said an 'astonishing' number of people had contributed to the research.

Researchers say organisations like Mensa need to rethink their membership - they currently require an IQ higher than 148 to join

'We expected a few hundred responses, but thousands and thousands of people took part, including people of all ages, cultures and creeds and from every corner of the world,' he said.

'When you take 100,000 people and tested their brain function, we couldn't find any evidence for a single uniform concept of intelligence.

'The best we could manage is get it down to three elements that contribute to intelligence. But they are completely different factors, unrelated to one another, and you could be brilliant at one and awful at another.

For example, the absent-minded professor.

'IQ tests are pretty meaningless - if you are not good at them, all it proves is that you are not good at IQ tests.

'It does not say anything about your general intelligence.'

The majority of IQ tests were developed in the 50s and 60s when the way we thought and interacted with the world was different, said Dr Owen.

Study co-author Roger Highfield, from the Science Museum, said: 'The most surprising thing is that we still haven't got over the hang up about IQ tests.

'This really is a wake-up call. We have now shown that on the evidence, these tests are meaningless.

'We need to stop trying to simplify the brain, which is very complicated organ, down to a number.

'We need to think of intelligence like the Olympics. Is the gold medal winner in the marathon fitter than the gold medallist in the 100m sprint?'